RED-NECKED STINTS Calidris ruficollis

The Eastern equivalent of our Little Stint, and difficult to separate in non-breeding plumage,
large flocks winter in Australia and S.E. Asia. Mainly an Arctic breeder, there have been several
records in Britain, they may well have been overlooked in the past. One of the birds in the right-hand shot,
taken at Cairns Esplanade in Queensland, has retained the breeding plumage which gives it the
name, the majority moult before arrival on the wintering grounds.